Sensory stimulation cart calms hospital residents

Times Reporter   

 

Dealing with someone suffering from dementia or behavioural issues can be tough on both staff and patients. Sedation isn’t always the way to go, but sometimes options are limited, which is why Continuing Care at the Strathmore Hospital purchased a sensory stimulation cart last August. 

“It’s very good in long term care and any dementia unit, I would encourage the proper use. It’s not a babysitting tool, that’s been a learning curve for us, balancing how much to use it,” said Gwen Cyr, activity convener for Continuing Care. 

“Some staff think it should be 24/7 but if you do that it’s not going to be effective so you have to know when it’s perfect to have it on and when it’s not. You don’t want to overuse it so that when you need it, it doesn’t work.

“If you give them the sensory when they don’t have behaviours then when they do have behaviours it’s nothing new, if you see it all the time you can’t focus on that to stop the behaviour,”

The cart has a bubble tube filled with water and fish. It lights up with four different colours and there are fibre optic cables attached to it which also light up. There is a projector on with a number of videos, ones of flowers, and stars and even an electric animated musical video. Cyr said the cart usually stays in the common area. The staff had tried using the cart in a few residents’ rooms but found that it works best where everyone has access to it. 

Being able to completely eliminate the use of medication is just not feasible, but the cart has helped and in some cases worked better than some of the meds. It all depends on each resident. 

“We did notice with one resident it worked better than the behaviour meds and I honestly don’t know what her meds status is at, but when we were trying to balance it definitely came in handy,” said Cyr. 

A projector is kept in the resident’s room 24/7 and if she is having a moment then they will turn the lights out and the projector on for her to help calm her.  

Over the past year staff have learned which residents the cart works for and when it works. They are noticing what signs there are that indicate it may be time to use the sensory cart. 

“I think the ones that don’t have behaviours are like you and me where they’re just intrigued, I still find that the staff find it calming at times,” said Cyr.